A friend of mine who lives far away told me she was having a hard time, and then reaching out (beautiful heart) she said she was worried about me in lockdown Los Angeles. I was about to tell her not to worry and then I changed my mind and said this:
I would say, please don’t worry, but that’s a form of denial. We worry together — the whole world — that’s an odd kind of companionship. But it’s togetherness, of a kind.
This year will take years to come to terms with, the grief and the anger and the isolation.
I have faith in you. Things will get better.
Another friend and I have been have been meeting digitally every two weeks. I’m researching a novel rooted in California with branches in New York, London, and Paris. It starts in the 1920s and goes right up to the present day. I came across this and I laughed out loud. I thought you might too:
Lily Beale is the name of my new main character:
More about her later, for now there’s Billie in Hollywood and new chapters to listen to Saturday and Sunday.